Wasted Days

Monday, July 25, 2011

the Catskill shots that survived/Abandoned Turnpike bike & camp

I developed a roll of film that had been sitting in a camera on my window sill for about 4 years. I shot one frame when I first got the camera......then didn't pick it up again til about 3 months agoa few weeks (months?) ago we got a crew together to hit the Catskills. hiking, swimming, skating and camping were the only orders for the weekend. I'm slowly trying to gravitate away from digital and make the switch to film but unfortunately, due to my sparse knowledge of 35mm cameras (gimme a break, Moxey's photo class was like 19 years ago), the local drug store lab fucking up 2 rolls and me blowing a 3rd roll, I wasn't left with many pics of the weekend. The skatepark, village and lighthouse snaps were lost. Here's what survived.3 guesses who went on a rager the night beforeSimon on the balconyafter swimming it was off to camp to meet up with the rest of the crewget in where ya' fit inMochi was standing guardfirst beach day of the year! thanks to Clay for the board hook up. Let's try it again when the water's a little nicer.new swim spotbiking the abandonedturnpike has been on our to-do list for awhile now. as soon as a weekend came up that worked for everybody's schedule, the trigger got pulled. and as you scroll down to see the pics, lest anyone think Matt and I coordinated our outfits,I assure you it was purely coincidentalpreride shakedown at the Sidling Hill service plaza. Andy's Keens and shaka were obviously mandatory. and before I forget, big thanks to Ron for letting me borrow his bikeafter bombing the long downhill (which meant uphill on the return trip) we found the starting gates no problemno spandex on this trip, I mean I wouldn't want to look gay or anythingexploring these is one of the main reasons we came herewe ditched the bikes and walked the plank to get insideI crossed my fingers that Andy was up to date on his tetanus shots. Lockjaw would have seriously hindered his vocal range for the trip. (Andy = sing everything)descent to the turbineswe climbed a few flights of rusty "stairs" and got up into the ventilation tunnel on top above the road. Think of it as an above ground cave.the road flares came in handykept reminding me of this commerciallooking down to the road belowIf the Floyd can shoot their album cover here, so can we.Rife planks verticallyLuna bars all around to maintain proper pH balancewestwarddeciding when to turn the lights on was a fairly easy decision to make"how's my ascot? I mean, the last thing I want to look like is an douchebag."true or false: Andy sang Outspoken's A Light in the Dark more than once on this trip.Brian wasted no timeengaging the shades once we emerged on the other sidetunnel # 2. as you approached, you could feel the cool air coming from inside a good 30 yards away.Rife never pedals without the Gerber in arm's reachend of the lineAny pointers bro?Breezewood town limitsabandoned hotel across the street. first thing we looked for was tranny in the pool...no diceheading back eastgreat cap controlentering the western side of the ventilation tunnelalways a fan of signagealbum cover shoot #37 of the tripAndy and the Dickbag Joeysthe return trip seemed twice as short as on the way out. Abandoned Turnpike, done and done. Time for the uphill!Brian and Rife's electrolytes were depleted. Time to rehydrate.stocking up in McConnellsburg. only the essentials5 warm spots, coming upwho packed the Pert?Brian Eagle Scoutingstanding room only in the kitchenMatt's secret ingredient? dash of TSB (the Silver Bullet)lesson learned. guess it's back to the hat store for me.Andy is easily my favorite subjectany experienced camper knows the best thing to do when it comes to setting up a new tent is to just follow the directionsmandatory crew shots around the fire"how's the ventilation in that 5x5?"you could pretty much set your watch by Andy's lower GI for the rest of the eveninggood nightgood morningworm's eye view of Brian's 5:30 wake up callgreat trip